Jordan River Parkway: Jordan Narrows

The Jordan Narrows has been on my radar for a while. I couldn’t find a whole lot of information on it, but it just sounded fascinating. Now, I knew it would be no Zion Narrows, but I thought it might be a nice narrow canyon with the large Jordan River flowing through it. It wasn’t quite that. The Jordan River Parkway is a paved bike path that will one day lead from North Salt Lake to Utah Lake. We have done parts of it, but nothing really significant before. We had a family event down in Lehi so I was looking for surrounding trails and found you could access the Narrows via Jordan Narrows Park. Sweet! Maybe I built it up too much, but I didn’t particularly care for this trail.

Quick Details:

Length: As far as you want to go. From this trailhead, the trail continues north for about a half mile (currently), or south for about 9.6 miles. We went about a mile south today.
Difficulty: DR2. Paved. Some up and down.
Elevation Gain: Depends on how far you go. We did 147 ft.
Restroom: At the trailhead, but it was closed for the season.
Dogs? Leashed.

To get here, take Redwood Rd between Bluffdale and Saratoga Springs. Turn east on Jordan Narrows Road. Continue down and slightly turn left onto 16525 s. You will see the park on the right.

Right off the bat you get a decent view of Mount Timpanogos.

And down into the narrows. Okay, it’s a gulley.

I had looked a a couple maps, but still wasn’t really sure where we should go. We decided to go north for a minute, before ultimately turning around and going south.

Yea, I really didn’t like the way north looked, so we turned around and went south.

Tiny little gulley. We are still below the park at this point.

Looking down into the narrows.

Beef Hollow.

Looking north.

And south.

The dam that diverts 2 canals off of the river.

I have likely crossed over both canals countless times not ever really thinking about where they came from.

A couple windmills. Pretty sure this is the closest I have ever gotten to one before.

And I think this is the base of a former or upcoming one.

Some ducks in the river below.

And a little upstream. You can see the ‘point of the mountain’ section of freeway we usually take coming through this area, as well as Lone Peak peaking up in the middle.

Better shot of Lone Peak.

A small layer looks like it is starting to form some hoodoos.

I pushed us a little further than we really wanted us to go today hoping that the next bend might show a nice view of Utah Valley. I am glad I did. I don’t think we quite crossed into Utah County, but if we did, just barely.

Looking south. Looks like the narrows are about done.

Panoramic. You can just make out Thanks Giving Point there on the right.

Another view of Lone Peak.

Okay, I got to a decent viewpoint, but we were running late and it was time to turn around.

Another shot through the narrows.

I don’t know what it was, probably the fact that the wind was blowing us about and we were pretty chilly, that and I guess I expected something more grand, but I didn’t particularly care for this adventure. The Jordan Narrows are not particularly narrow. There isn’t much left that is natural. There are gravel pits, rail road tracks, houses and more. Maybe on a better day it would be enjoyable, but today it just was not. Going with 6 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, It is paved with pretty casual up and downs. DR2.

Dogs are allowed, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friend.